All three grains are used in the UK. They're more common within the health food market (we sell all of them where I work). However, I certainly wouldn't refer to any of them as a side dish. They are grains used for making bread, cakes, desserts, breakfast cereals etc.
Are you sure that you understand what a "side dish" is? Please tell us what you think it means.
Now, with something like chicken Parmesan, which would be served on top of spaghetti all as one entree, you typically do not get a choice of sides, since the spaghetti is incorporated into the entree.
If you have steak and mashed potatoes on the plate, then you're eating "steak and mash". There is no side dish. If you decided to make a little dish of salsa to have in a bowl alongside your steak and mash, it would be a side dish. The reason it's called a "side dish" is that the plate that it's on sits to the side of your main plate.
For example, when I go out for a curry for dinner, I usually order:
- Starter: Onion bhaji
- Main course: Vegetable korma with pilau rice
- Side dish: Bombay Aloo, Bhindi Bhaji and Mattar Paneer
The onion bhaji comes first. When that's finished, the korma and rice come together, either already on the plate or together on a tray ready for me to serve onto my plate. The three side dishes are brought at the same time as the main course but on a separate tray.
I'm sure you're right that millet etc is more healthy than mashed potatoes but if it comes as part of the main dish, then it isn't a side dish.
I'd call it a "starch."
Just as a side comment :roll:: I would always choose "are" to go with spaghetti (probably influenced by my mother tongue).
Ok, emsr2d2, I know what you like to eat, where you work and what a side dish is. So what do you call millet etc that sits next to steak and vegetables on the plate in the UK? Ask at work
I'll have a steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. And a side of millet for my goat. :roll:
I love goats!